Pulling Down Walls: Joshua and the Battle of Jericho
An assembly from the 'Hello, Scruff' series
by Revd Sylvia Burgoyne
Suitable for Reception / Key Stage 1
Aims
To consider the role of walls.
Preparation and materials
You will need:
- a glove or sock puppet of a donkey
- a box of dominoes
- toy trumpets (optional).
Put on the puppet before the assembly.
Assembly
- As Scruff waves to the children, encourage them to wave and say,
‘Hello, Scruff!’
If the children have not met Scruff before, you will need the following introduction:
Scruff lives on a farm with Lucy Jane; her mum, Mrs. B.; and her dad, Farmer Brown.
Lucy Jane loves Scruff. She looks after him. She plays with him and she talks to him, when she’s happy and when she’s sad. Scruff is her best friend. - Scruff was in the farmyard, watching Lucy Jane and her friend, Inca, playing dominoes on the picnic table. (Do you know how to play dominoes?)
They’d decided that the winner would be the one who won three games first. It was a very close match as they’d each won two games. The next game was the decider. (Who do you think is going to win?)
Inca was the winner, three games to two. (So how many games had they played? Do you think Lucy Jane was a good loser? Are you a good loser?)
‘What shall we do now?’ asked Inca. ‘I know,’ answered Lucy Jane, ‘let’s see if we can build a high tower with the dominoes.’ (Perhaps you can try to do this later?)
Very carefully, they placed the dominoes two by two on top of each other, like this. (Start building a tower). They were about to put the last domino on the top when . . . oh dear, a big bee landed on Scruff’s nose, buzzzzzzzz. He shook his head from side to side over the picnic table, and . . . what happened next? The tower came crashing down!
‘Oh, Scruff!’ laughed Lucy Jane. ‘Now we’ll have to start all over again!’ And they did.
(Take off Scruff.) - God’s people were making the long journey from Egypt to the Promised Land. Their new leader, a young man called Joshua, led them to the high walls of the city of Jericho, but no one would let them inside. What could they do?
God had a plan, and he told Joshua exactly what to do. He organized a procession. First came armed men, followed by seven priests blowing trumpets in front of those who were carrying the ark of the Lord. (Show picture.) Then came more armed men.
Every day for six days, they marched once around the city walls: left, right, left, right, left, right. And the priests blew their trumpets: toot to toot toot!
(I wonder what the people inside the walls thought of this strange procession. Did they laugh?)
On the seventh day, Joshua gave his men new instructions from God. They were to walk around the walls six times, as before, but when the trumpets blew on the seventh time around, they were all to shout as loud as they could. (What do you think they shouted?)
So, Joshua led the procession on the seventh day, and when the trumpets blew – toot to toot toot – and the men shouted, ‘God is with us!’, the city walls crumbled and came tumbling down (loud clap)!
The people inside the walls weren’t laughing now, as Joshua and his men scrambled over the rubble into their city. Everyone knew that God was with Joshua.
Time for reflection
In this story, the walls were in the way; they kept some people in, and other people out. Can you think of anything that can separate us from other boys and girls?
(The colour of our skin, talking in different languages, eating different food, living in very different places.)
Prayer
Father God, thank you for this exciting story.
Your plan seemed very strange, but Joshua obeyed, believing that you could bring the walls of Jericho crashing down.
Help us to remember that all us are part of your family – black and white, young and old, rich and poor, we all belong to You.
Amen.
Song/music
‘Joshua fit the battle of Jericho’ (Junior Praise – chorus only?)
